TalkBaja.com » Baja Mexico Forums » Driving in Baja

Is it possible to import a car with a vin beginning with J?

Import....No, not according to everything I've read.

But it is possible to bring it down & keep it here legally while you are in the country on an FMM (180-day Tourist permit) or Residente Temporal.....once or IF you want to change to Residente Permanente, then according to last published laws you will be required to have a Mexican plated vehicle. I have not heard of any changes to that requirement with the new INM changes.

It appears there is some confusion on the point of importing vehicles. Some seem to think that Baja is exempt, importation only applies to mainland....why would you want to inmport or what are the advantages to you to import if it is not required???

Teniente Caliente, Mainland requires a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) to take a non-Mexican-plated vehicle in beyond the limited free-zone area.....all of Baja is a free-zone. What I read Baja3 to be asking is about permanent vehicle importation, where the vehicle is actually imported into Mexico, becomes a Mexican vehicle, permanently licensed & registered in Mexico.

In mainland; because the TIP process is tied directly to the INM process & you must provide Aduana with a monetary deposit upon initial entry & then keep it current (legal) by providing Aduana with a current copy of your INM document each & every time it's renewed; there is an on-line audit trail between a person's legal presence in the country along with their vehicle's legal presence.

In Baja, a non-Mexican plated vehicle is legal as long as the owner's physical presence is legal/current/valid, i.e., FMM or Residente Temporal. The main difference being that there's no TIP process in Baja which would create an automatic on-line traceable audit trail of vehicle legality/status. I've always been told that once an individual gets Residente Permanente INM status, that they must either legally import their vehicle (a costly process) or physically remove it from Mexico (costly & problematic).

I have imported a formerly US-plated vehicle.....back in the days when vehicles were importable 5 years after date of manufacture.....and I have subsequently sold that imported vehicle & purchased a new vehicle here in La Paz. I know the laws have changed over time, but I've yet to see or hear about any change in the requirement that once you obtain Residente Permanente status, your vehicle must be Mexican-plated.

The safest route for Baja13 to take would be to pose the question to an importer to get current legal requirements since vehicles not in compliance with current laws are subject to confiscation. Better safe than sorry!!

Advantages being that you're in compliance with the laws of your new adopted country & it also breaks any lingering ties/hassles with the old country & the multitude of varying individual state requirements, i.e., DEQ (annual smog checks/vehicle inspections), annual license & registration renewals, not to mention insurance requirements which also vary from state-to-state. Mexican insurance rates are higher on US-plated "Tourist" policies than they are for a Mexican-plated vehicle.